Shut Your Eyes
by alivetonight
Summary: Drawn to Narnia by unknown powers, Charlotte's in a bit of a pickle. Left in the care of Telmarines, she's made to learn swordsmanship to protect some bogus prince. Not what she imagined her summer break would be like. Not at all. OC/You'll find out later :D
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit

If life could possibly be normal for me, I would assume it would get quite boring. So much so that I'd complain about how boring life was until something happened to me, which would, in turn, make me wish things were boring again. Life sure has me trained.

It's times like these that I am allowed to think like this, and times like these I wish I wasn't.

When I think...bad things happen.

I know, ha ha, Charlotte's gone off her rocker, she's admitting how insane she is. Maybe that's just part of my madness.

I just happen to think that time to think does not do me well.

Can you understand me still?

I'm not sure I am still making sense.

Whatever. Today started out normal. I thought I would be bored to tears all day, and was just about proven right until some kind of supernatural force decided I would be the perfect person to drop in on some world.

I know, it's a lot to digest. How do you think I felt?

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I got up in the morning, and got dressed into my ridiculous school uniform. I walked to the train station with my brother Trevor after saying goodbye to my father, and sent him off to school, nothing new. I sat in my desk a row away from the window, and asked that Susan girl to switch her window seat. She said no, once again, but really why would anybody give up a window seat?

I sat in the court yard reading some Shakespeare for English. Nothing really new happened. Although a few girls got into a petty fight about some boy or something, and I noticed that Susan girl with the good seat in Mathematics was having a tense conversation with her little sister.

I considered asking them what the matter was, however I restrained myself knowing I would somehow make things awkward.

I was waiting in the station, when Mark Lakey and his what I assume to be retarded friends decided to pick on Trevor. Trevor's only 11, mind you, he still needs me, so of course I had to stand up for him!

Mark poked his chubby finger into Trevor's forehead.

"Hey look at this little baby! What are you doing, walking by here? You know this is my part of the station!"

Trevor ground his teeth and clenched his fists, that worried me.

"Come on, Trevor, answer me. Or are you too chicken?"

Here's where I intervened-

"Mark, do you find it amusing that your parents can produce pigs?" I asked.

Mark made an ugly face(like there are any other kinds he can make..) and looked me up and down.

"Shouldn't you be off knitting?" He asked me.

I scowled. "Funny, I was about to ask you the same question." I replied.

Mark snorted unattractively.

"That's a job reserved for my mother, too bad you don't have one!"

This comment made me want to skewer him.

"What happened? Did she get sick of you and walk out?" Mark continued.

I dropped my school bag, "I really wish you'd stop pretending your mother loves a useless shit like you." I replied.

Mark took a threatening(and earth-quaking) step forward. "I really wish you'd stop pretending like you have a mother." He spat out venomously.

I pushed Mark and he toppled over onto his side kicks.

"Do you want a brawl right here, or shall I wait for you to finish pancaking the poor ants beneath you?" I asked.

Mark stood up, grimacing. "I'm in no mood to fool around with a weak girl. I'm going to pretend like we never met up today." He replied almost highly.

He turned around and walked straight into a blonde fellow, I winced when I saw. Mark is rather heavy.

"Don't just stand there! Apologize!" He demanded of the boy.

The boy looked at Mark, I couldn't get a good view of his face, and frowned.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

His voice almost...made me want to sing. It was such a lovely voice, which touched something deep inside me. I thought this was a little queer, I usually don't get girly feelings.

Mark shoved him a little, "You heard me, apologize."

The boy shoved Mark back.

"I don't think I should apologize to a repulsive boy who bullies girls. You're awfully cowardly, don't you think?" That lovely, lovely voice.

I peeked around Mark's beefy shoulder.

"You get the porker, I'll get the side kicks?" I asked, wishing I could see his face better(it had to be as nice as his voice).

He chuckled and wound his fist back, throwing the first punch of what would be an all-out-brawl.

I dove onto one of Mark's side kicks, tackling him to the floor. The other boy was frozen in shock, so I punched him in the nose. It gave a satisfying crack, and blood gushed all over his shirt. The one I tackled was recovering and started calling for back up down the corridor, so I kicked him in the groin, and elbowed his neck, hopefully knocking him out. He sank to the ground in pain, so it didn't work as planned, when I turned around to take care of the other boy, he tackled me into a wall, I cracked my head on it, that ass.

I kneed him in the face, and stood up a little too quickly, my head swimmed, while three more boys hopped into the fight. One seemed to be on our side, he tackled the boy I tried to knock out. I was too distracted by the boy on our side, as I turned to find the other three boys, one picked me up from behind, while the other helped the boy with the broken nose (and black eye, I mind you) up to help beat me up. The one who's nose I broke wound his fist back to punch me in the face, but he was restrained by army men blowing their whistles.

"What is wrong with you boys? Honestly, hitting a lady!" They tore the boys off of me.

"Act your age!" One yelled out.

Mark and his minions sulked towards the other end of the station.

I found Trevor amongst the crowd that I hadn't notice develop, and took him to an empty bench.

"Are you okay?" He asked/yelled at me, still excited from the fight.

"Yes. I'm fine, just a few scratches really. I really wish you didn't have to see that, now you're going to act uncivil and violent too." I replied.

Trevor laughed, "And take after my big sister? No way!"

I smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Excuse me?" I turned to see the boy with the beautiful voice, his face matching up perfectly with it.

His ocean blue eyes squinted a little, and he pursed his lips.

"Thank you for fighting for me, you really didn't have to." He told me.

I shrugged. "I really, really dislike that pig. He constantly insults my mother."

He smiled a little. "Anyways, thanks, I would have been a goner if you didn't help."

I smiled back. "Ask me any time, I'm always itching to beat that Mark kid up."

The boy looked taken aback.

"You're really brave, most girls go faint at the mention of violence." His eyes were analyzing now.

I snorted(probably not the most attractive thing to do) and waved the idea off.

"I'll take any challenge." I replied. He smiled at me.

"I'd better go, my sisters look pretty cross." He muttered disappointingly, glancing at a bench a few meters away.

That Susan girl was sitting on it with her sister Lucy, like the boy said, looking cross.

"Can I catch your name before I go?" He asked, looking hopeful.

I smiled, "Only if I can catch yours." Trevor made a gagging noise at this. I elbowed him.

The boy looked amused, "I'm Peter Pevensie."

"Charlotte McKinley. This is my little brother, Trevor." Trevor smiled shyly at Peter.

Peter nodded, "Goodbye Trevor. Charlotte, I'll talk to you later." He smiled and turned to his sister, walking to their bench.

Trevor turned back to me. "Maybe I should have warned Peter that you have cooties."

His face was so serious I couldn't help but bursting into giggles.

Trevor was a little mad I wouldn't take him seriously, and I couldn't help my amusement until I remembered that I dropped my school bag somewhere by where I fought Mark and his friends with Peter and Peter's friend.

"I'll be right back, Trev," I told Trevor, running over to the scene of the fight.

It took me a couple minutes to find my bag, it had gotten kicked under a bench in all the excitement. I picked it up, and sat on the bench trying to figure out if anything was missing, when I noticed the station had gone dead quiet. I looked up, and noticed that there was nothing in the train station, just me. I dropped my bag on the bench and looked down the tracks.

"Hello?" I called into them, "Trevor?"

The walls started to flicker, turning some queer blue shade. I reached out to feel a wall, but I couldn't find where the wall was, all of the walls were blue, almost like a sky.

I realized it was a sky, and the ground disappeared under me.

My shriek of surprise was cut short when I hit the ground and everything went black.


	2. Changing Skies

My head was throbbing when I woke up. I imagined I was either in the hospital, knocked out from the fight unknowingly, or somewhere I didn't know. I felt around on the ground to see if I really was in a hospital, only to feel spiny grass and small pebbles.

"You there!" A voice called out to me, it echoed in my head and resonated a pain I've never known.

I groaned and held my head.

"What's your name, girl?" The voice asked, louder and closer this time.

I took deep breaths to relax. "Could you speak quieter please? I think I've hurt my head." I remembered saying, before passing out again into delicious, pain free oblivion.

-x-

When I awoke this time, I was some where half warm, half cold. My feet were toasty, but my arms were freezing. I couldn't figure out where I was until I opened my eyes.

The light was too bright at first, of course. As my eyes adjusting I became aware of two things, one I was sitting in a bed in some kind of stone building. Two, there were bandages around my head and I felt drowsy, somebody had taken care of my injury and given me pain medication.

I looked around some more, taking in minor details. The door was wooden. The sheets were strange with intricate patterns woven into them. The decorations and furniture in the room were medieval looking.

I was so caught up in studying the room that I hadn't noticed a person walk in.

"Hello?" Asked a man from the doorway.

I turned my head to him too fast, and hurt my neck a bit. The man sighed and pushed some of his dark hair out of his face. I noticed the lovely caramel colour of his skin, and became a bit jealous.

"I don't want to have to administer anymore medication to you until I know who you are, girl." He told me.

The man looked middle aged, bits of gray sprinkling his dark hair. He looked spanish and he talked with a bit of an accent.

"Where am I?" I asked in a strange voice.

The man scrutinized me from his doorway, before taking a cautious step forward.

"Narnia, of course." He replied in a simple manner, taking another step forward.

I was immediately alarmed, "And just where is that? Asia? South America? Where is Narnia?" I fired questions at him.

The man gave me a strange look, "Beside Archenland? On the Eastern Sea?"

I looked down, trying to think about how I got here. I remembered the train station being eerily quiet, and all the walls turning a sky blue before disappearing and falling.

Well, I concluded in my head, I must be loony or magical.

"My name is Charlotte." I spoke quietly.

The man nodded. "I'm General Glozelle."

It was silent for a moment, Glozelle shifted uncomfortably.

"What land are you of?" He asked me.

I pretended to think about it, getting more and more frantic, after all I couldn't really tell anybody here where I was from until I knew who to trust.

"I...can't remember." I said slowly, acting confused.

I hoped dearly that Glozelle assumed I was generally theatrical and saw past my poor attempt at acting.

"Oh," He replied. "And how old are you?"

I looked down, "Sixteen."

Glozelle looked taken aback. He turned to walk out the door.

"I'll be back later with food, Lord Miraz will decide what to do with you." He told me, walking away.

I shivered, but I wasn't sure it was because I was cold.

-x-

Glozelle walked swiftly into the office Miraz was working in, stopping before his superior's desk.

Miraz looked up from his papers, a grim look upon his face.

"Well?" He asked.

Glozelle gave him a hard look, "The girl has awaken, sir."

Miraz looked into the distance, "Who is she?" He snapped.

"Her name is Charlotte, she claims to not know where she's from. She's but 16 years old, sir. What do you command?"

Miraz tossed ideas around in his head. "We're down on recruits for the royal guard program, enlist her for that once she's better." He replied.

Glozelle bowed, and walked away quickly to set up the girl's enrollment right away, knowing Miraz and his patience.

-x-

I was picking at the paint on the dresser beside me when Glozelle returned to my room. He walked to the chair by the end of my bed and sat awkwardly, looking at me with a skeptical eye.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I'm bored."

Glozelle smiled faintly. "You remind me of my daughter a little, Charlotte."

I smiled a little at the mention of a family. "Yeah? How old is she?" I asked.

Glozelle looked down. "She died eight years ago. She would be sixteen now, were she still alive."

I coughed awkwardly. "Oh. Sorry." I replied.

Glozelle shrugged. "It was a long time ago."

We both looked around the room.

"So.." I said, "What's going on? With me, I mean."

Glozelle looked at me with a scrutinizing eye again, "You're to be enrolled in a royal guard program once you are healed."

I mulled the sound of that in my head.

"Royal guard program?" My stomach flip flopped at the name. "What's that?"

Glozelle sighed. "You are trained by the very best instructors of defense and attack with a variety of weapons, you are tested for...ahem...compatibility within the royal family and advisers, and you are assigned a person to protect at all costs."

"Compatibility?" I asked, noticing his verbal stumble.

Glozelle nodded. "Most people train about 3 months, since the contenders are mostly female it takes them longer to grasp the concepts than regular males would."

I nodded and thought about myself handling a sword...ooh. Maybe not.

"How well trained are the women entering the program?" I asked.

Glozelle thought a little, "Usually they have little to none. Our tutors are high class and intelligent, they create warriors out of housewives." He added with a small smile.

I laughed a little.

"I might be a special case. As you can tell, I'm not the most graceful girl." I replied, pointing to my head.

I pulled a blonde lock out of my ponytail to speculate my hair colour once more, when I noticed it had red streaking it.

"Um...would it be too much trouble to get me a bath?" I asked, gesturing to my literally strawberry blonde hair.

Glozelle nodded. "Given your circumstances." He replied with a smile.

I snorted. "Yeah. Given my circumstances."

Glozelle's smile widened. "You won't want to use sarcasm while training under the royal guard tutors."

I gave him a suspicious look. "Why not?" I asked.

"I heard they like to give extra strength and endurance training to the snippy ones." He replied.

I sighed. "I'll take 'em."

Glozelle stood from his chair with a chuckle.

"I'll go inquire about that bath." He said before leaving.

I sighed and went back to picking the wall. At least there'll be something to do here after I've healed.

-x-

Updates will be choppy and unscheduled, I'm not planning ahead on this or anything. Give me time and I'll finish it. Thank you for reading this! Time to do some english. Ugh.


	3. Her Morning Elegance

"What's your name, girl?" The man asked me from his desk.

I picked at the horrid velvet covering on the chair I was situated in. Glozelle was smirking in the corner, obviously taking joy from my annoyance.

"Charlotte McKinley. But, call me Char, if you will." I replied.

The man and woman shared another petty look. The woman scoffed. The man looked back down at his sheet.

"Age?"

I sighed. "What's the point of this ridiculous meeting, Glozelle?" I asked again.

Glozelle shrugged and looked away. "We shouldn't have this meeting, but we're here. There is nothing _to _do but answer their questions." He told me.

"I'll just guess eighteen." The stupid man stated.

"I'm not eighteen, I'm _sixteen!_" I replied.

The man sniveled. "Well, it's too late, it's in writing. You'll just have to deal with the consequences of your stupidity."

I took a deep breath and calmed down and smiled at the man. "You mean _your_ stupidity."

The man rolled his eyes and wrote something else down on the paper.

"Are you shy or talkative?" He asked me.

"Talkative, I'd say." quipped the lady.

I rolled my eyes. The man wrote something on the paper.

"What do you like?" He asked.

"Not you." I mumbled.

"What was that, dear one?" Glozelle called from behind.

I clenched my fists. "Nothing."

The man looked back at me. "What is it then? Come on, I haven't got all day."

I glared at him. He shrunk back into his chair.

Glozelle spoke up from behind me once more, "She likes nature, exercise and music."

I turned to face him. "_You're speaking with the enemy_." I stated.

Glozelle gave me a pointed look. "Yeah, yeah. This is necessary." I replied.

The man wrote more things down on the paper.

"What don't you like?" He asked.

"You." I responded.

Glozelle smacked my arm. "What? I'm being honest!" I replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Charlotte doesn't like dresses, sciences or face paints."

I glared at him. The old man wrote more things down on the paper.

"Alright, we'll get back to you once we've spoken with Lord Miraz and tested her results." The man told us.

The woman gave me a victorious look. I stuck my tongue out at her.

-x-

Glozelle sat at his usual chair, and instead of lying in my bed, I was allowed to sit in the chair facing Glozelle's.

He gave me a dry look. "You don't have to make things so difficult." He told me.

I rolled my eyes. "You don't have to hire incredibly idiotic help." I replied.

Glozelle's flat frown turned into his twisted smile-the one he always gives me when he doesn't want to admit I'm right and laugh-and he shook his head.

"You are impossible. I can only imagine what Lord Sopespian wrote on your sheet."

I snickered. "His name sounds horse-like."

Glozelle snickered too. "I've never thought of that."

I smiled back in a gloating manner. "That's what I'm here for."

Glozelle gave me another dry look(I'd been getting quite a few in the past few days) and looked out the window beside us.

"I wish you weren't to be enrolled." He admitted.

I knew he meant the Royal Guard program.

He looked back at me, a sorrowful sincerity in his eyes. "Why not? It sounds bloody interesting." I asked.

Glozelle shut his eyes and rubbed his face.

"Let's just say I don't believe in it's _purpose_," He replied, "I find the whole bit-to a certain extent-immoral."

I looked down. "I don't want to know, really." I told him.

Glozelle looked back out the window. "Very well." He said.

I picked at the paint peeling on the wooden table. "Stop picking the paint off, Charlotte." He told me.

I smiled sheepishly. "If it wasn't meant to be picked, it wouldn't stick out of the table!" I replied.

Glozelle laughed a little. Good. He'd been way too serious today.

I grabbed his crossed arms and pulled them to the table. "Arm wrestle?" I asked.

Glozelle smiled his twisted I-don't-want-to-smile-because-I'm-angry-with-you,-Charlotte smile. "Alright," He consented.

I grabbed a hold of his rough hand and started the count down. "_3-2-1GO_!" I shouted quickly.

Glozelle was taken by surprise again, you'd think he'd be used to that trick by now, and I smacked his hand down on the table.

"That's unfair!" He stated sorrowfully.

I just laughed evilly. "Why don't you go fetch the 'Arm Wrestling Rulebook' and tell me all about it?" I asked.

Glozelle laughed too. "You're such a trickster, Char!" He told me.

"Ahem," A woman's voice echoed through the room.

We turned to find that the Midwife, Henrietta, was standing in the doorway with a silly smile decorating her lovely, caramel face.

"Time to fix your bandages, Charlotte." She told me.

"I should probably-ahem-go tend to my business." Glozelle stated, as he blushed.

I laughed to myself-it was frightfully obvious that Glozelle and Henrietta fancied each other-and motioned for Henrietta to come in.

"We'll chat later, Glozelle." I called down the hallway. He waved his hand.

I turned back to Henrietta, who had set up the clean bandages she brought with her on the table. I sat back in my chair.

"I've never seen that man close with anybody like that since the accident," Henrietta told me while unwrapping my forehead. "It's almost like you've replaced his poor family."

I shrugged-which she smacked me for-and laughed. "He's alright."

Henrietta blushed a little, "I'd say a little more than alright." She admitted.

"Do you...fancy him?" I asked her. Henrietta turned red.

"No! That would be highly inappropriate!" She shouted.

Henrietta smacked my arm once more.

"I swear, Char! You're always such a trouble maker!"

-x-

I sat in the second row(there were only two), there was a thirteen year old girl sitting to my left, and a twenty eight year old to my right. All of the girls I'd met so far were anxious and anticipating meeting their partner.

"Partner?" I'd asked. Some gave me looks to communicate my naivety, some looked pitifully down at me.

"Yes," one I particularly didn't like, Laura, I think her name was, "why did you think we had that personality test?"

This discovery made me realize what a fool I'd been. With whatever Sopespian wrote on my sheet, I've either scored somebody bearable, or some git I can't stand.

"Rise, Guard Trainees!" A rather nasty voice commanded.

We all stood, but I could hardly see because the Telmarines seem to be annoyingly tall people. I'm an average height, and I've felt like a midget my entire time here.

"You may sit, now." I heard Glozelle say calmly. We all sat, and I could finally see!

Glozelle was standing beside a serious looking man, who was standing directly in front of us. I guessed that was the Lord Miraz he'd told me about.

"Your matches have been made, and your partners are here. You are to train with them for three weeks, at the end of which you will have your survival test. I will call out the names of the trainees, and their partner will come and take them to the training grounds. Once I am finished, your tutors will meet you there. Understood?" He stated fairly.

The women surrounding me nodded and murmured amongst themselves.

"Gabriella, with Lord Rogust."

The woman to my right sighed and walked forward to meet a middle aged man with a grim look upon her face.

"Julia, with Lord Donnon."

Another older woman, off to meet another older man.

"Marie, with the young Lord Gregoire."

The thirteen year old to my right rose to meet and equally young looking fellow, blushing all the while.

"Charlotte," Miraz called out. He hesitated and checked the paper he'd been holding up again.

"You are to be paired with our honoured Prince Caspian." He stated.

Every female I'd been sitting by gasped and turned to glare at me. They scared me a little, to be honest. I stood up and fairly ran to the front, to avoid being murdered.

Glozelle was laughing. I glared darkly in his general direction.

Then, from the open doorway to my left, I spotted Caspian.

He had shoulder length wavy brown hair, and he was tan(like everybody else here). He was an entire head taller than me, he had a lean build and upon closer inspection, his eyes were a deep chocolate brown. His face was a bit feminine, but handsome, nonetheless. I could see why the women glared at me once they'd found out that Prince Caspian was my partner.

"Hello, Lady Charlotte." The Prince greeted me. His voice was deep and his accent was Spanish, but somehow it was loads more attractive on him than anybody else I'd so far met.

I breathed deeply. "Hi!" I replied. "You can call me Charlotte, if you'd like, Prince Caspian."

I looked into his beautiful eyes and found it hard to look away.

Caspian smiled, displaying his perfect pearly teeth. "You can call me Caspian, then, Charlotte." Butterflies fluttered in my stomach.

I'd imagine I'd act like a fool for the rest of my life if I spent it entirely around Caspian.

Caspian held his arm out to me, and I took it. He led me out the other door, and we walked through the court yard of the castle, holding most of the attention of the occupants throughout it. Caspian laughed a short laugh, and turned to me.

"Glozelle informed me that you were quite the special person." He told me.

I snorted(_so attractive_) and rolled my eyes. "I bet he did." I replied sarcastically.

Caspian smiled at me once more(thankfully), and looked back to the path we were taking. "He also informed me that if I hurt you, he'd find a way to inflict twice the damage to myself."

I choked. "_What!_?"

Caspian looked amused. "Are you insinuating that I am being untruthful?" He quipped, a nice smile on his (attractive)face.

I laughed a strangled laugh-"No! That was a what-the-_hell_-did-he-say? kind of _What!_" I informed him.

We shared a look, and burst into laughter. Caspian stood straighter and turned back to me, "Like I'd ever wish to harm you, Charlotte." He told me, staring into my eyes.

My heart started beating a little bit faster. I stared back in awe.

Caspian grabbed my arm, "We should get going." He stated, which made me realize that we'd stopped.

"Yes," I replied with a mischievous grin. "Lets." I raced off ahead of him.

"No fair!" he called out, and he ran after me.

-x-

I've started the planning for this story and it's going along fairly good. The plot is good and I've planned some chapters. What I mean to say is that I'm organizing this story in hopes that I can soon regularly update it. And finish it. It's going good so far!

Cheer me on, please :)

And review, please? It makes me smile!


	4. Help, I'm Alive

I decided today that Caspian was undoubtedly the most attractive boy I'd ever encountered(save for Peter, except I'll likely _never_ see England again). I also decided he was one of the most annoying I'd ever encountered.

"Charlotte, keep up!" Caspian hissed at me.

I scowled and dove into the bushes we were taking cover in, carefully minding my wooden imitation sword. I rolled into a crouching position, and crawled into the thicket to see where the giant battle showdown was.

Caspian crawled up beside me and stared out at the idiots who weren't trying to hide. Heat radiated off of him like a little star. A little star, crouching beside me. A little star, breathing heavily.

I tapped his shoulder and he whipped around to look at me. I thought I would be in need of the most training, but I was clearly sorely mistaken.

I held my finger to my mouth and shushed him, pointing back a couple of meters away.

"Crawl quietly and carefully." I whispered, hoping the battling idiots wouldn't hear us amongst their grand struggle. He nodded and turned, slowly this time, to crawl back to the tree we'd decided to be our rendezvous point should we separate.

I would've turned too had a pair of legs not come dangerously close to the bushes we were in. Caspian crawled on, unknowingly without me.

Laura, the girl who took a particular dislike to me in the first place, traipsed around where I was sitting. A smug smile was on her face, and I instantly understood that she was beastly and evil.

"I know you're there," She called out.

I remained quiet and still. Laura circled the bushes around where I was sitting. I held my breath and didn't dare move in the slightest.

She came to a stop, directly in front of me. I clenched my wooden sword, prepared to stab the git the second I had a chance. She smiled, and reached for me, I somersaulted backwards and was dumbfounded that I actually _could_ do such a thing. Laura shrieked in anger and started wildly grabbing amongst the bushes. I knew there was absolutely no way I could crawl away in time or make it to Caspian, so I stood.

Laura stopped attacking the bush and stood to face me. She smiled a little cruel smile before pulling her wooden sword from her belt.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me where your little prince went, do you?" She asked conversationally.

I rolled my eyes and stepped forward, attack me already idiot! Laura's little smile turned into a sneer. I've clearly impressed her in the short span of time I'd known her.

She took a calculating step to the left, I took a careful one to the right.

"I wish I knew! The little git ran off," I replied loudly. "Have you seen Cas?"

I knew Caspian heard me, and I hoped dearly he understood I was warning him. I added the nickname just to further annoy Laura.

She scowled and this time _I_ replied with a smile. It was almost too easy to push her buttons.

Laura swished her hair impatiently.

"Well then," She started, but she never finished her sentence as I charged at her, fully intending to put a stop to all this useless blabbering.

Laura wasn't quite sure what to do when somebody was charging at her, so she held her sword out awkwardly. I took mine with both hands and slashed at the hand she was using to hold her sword. She cried out in pain(the little sissy), and dropped it. I took my 'sword' and stabbed her in the stomach before she pushed me away.

The rules of this welcoming battle were simple, three hits and you lose, if both the guard and ward are out then the team loses overall. We are given wooden swords because this is meant to test our abilities. The trainers were walking about, monitoring the battles taking place around them.

Laura picked her sword up again and looked back at me.

"How _rude_ you are!" She yelled once more.

I scoffed. "Have you learned nothing from the last little pep talk you _tried_ to give me?" I asked.

Laura scowled and charged at me. I tried to block her the way they showed us, by pushing your own sword under the enemy's and lifting it, using it as a sort of leverage to push them off balance.

I failed miserably at this and only wound up pushing her sword awkwardly to the side, but she wasn't holding her sword in a proper manner in the first place. Any technique I tried, even if I got it right, would be a miserable attempt. Laura shrieked again in anger and started slashing aimlessly at me. I jumped back a few feet.

She ran towards me once more, and tripped on something I couldn't see.

I took this chance to leg it away fast as I could. I hid behind one of the sparse trees, breathing hard. If I played this right, I could escape and possibly find Caspian.

I turned and crouched carefully peeking around the trunk to see where Laura was hiding, but was only puzzled to find that she was missing.

I had a vague feeling of danger approaching when somebody struck my head _rather_ hard and I cursed Laura to high heaven before passing out.

-x-

I woke and sat up in a different type of room than the one I was in when I had my original head injury. This one was rather large, but held several cots, all separated by disgusting pastel curtains. A small girl with the same pretty olive skin and dark eyes as everyone else was directly across from me. I waved at her, but she just smiled slightly and turned on her side to sleep.

My head ached horridly.

I decided she had the right idea and turned(slowly) to sleep too, except I noticed then that there were two visitors in my room.

The first I saw was Caspian. I was immediately shocked and impressed he came to visit me after we'd just met and I'd failed the first test we had as partners. The second was the Trainer in charge of us all.

I stared a bit before noticing how strange it was and looking away. Heat rose to my cheeks and I wished I wasn't blushing, but knew I was all the same.

The trainer-General Montoya as it were-cleared his throat.

"You took the worst hit, but played well, McKinley." He stated.

Yes, like most trainers, General Montoya preferred to refer to us all by family name.

I shrugged and winced at the movement. "I failed, though, didn't I?" I asked.

Montoya chuckled to himself, and put his hand in his pocket. "Everybody failed at least one aspect of the battle." He stated.

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing with glee and restrained myself from dancing, I'm not the worst of the girls! Though, I'm not sure I'd be allowed to dance in Telmarine territory. They're not the most mischievous bunch.

Caspian smiled at me, obviously reading my mind. The general looked back and forth at us, so I looked away again, trying to gain composure.

"In fact," General Montoya called out clearly, "Caspian was the only ward successfully protected."

I smiled, satisfied and looked straight ahead. Sure enough, the girl across from me was awake, listening. The crack of the patients I could see between curtains beside her were listening too. Success!

General Montoya nodded at me. "Training tomorrow at sunrise. We'll be working on everybody's technique. Be prepared to sweat." He mumbled, turned and walked out of my section.

Probably off to share the news with the others.

I looked back at Caspian, who let a sunny grin crack onto his lovely face.

"The only ward successfully protected." I mumbled to myself before letting my smile widen to a similar grin.

Caspian let a nice laugh out, his laugh was rather nice, and grabbed my hand. My stomach fluttered.

"Thank you for protecting me properly, Char!" He exclaimed gleefully.

I blushed again and cursed my body, "That's what I'm here for!" I replied.

He laughed again, what a nice sound, and I joined in.

"Hey," I stopped abruptly, "You called me Char."

Caspian looked a little embarassed. "Well, I thought it was fine since _you_ gave _me_ a nickname first."

I smiled smugly for making him flustered. "That's fine, I just called you Cas to bug that Laura git." I replied.

Caspian looked back at me, chocolate eyes searching. Searching for what, I don't know.

"However..." I added, "It's fine if you want to call me Char, it's loads easier and I'll just call you Cas."

Caspian nodded, "We have to pass the awkward stage anyways. We need to be close to work together properly."

"Right," I nodded back. "It makes perfect sense."

A moment of quiet settled over us. I stared at Caspian, looking to see what he was feeling. He stared back. Butterflies set up a summer home in my stomach.

"Thank you for coming to see me, by the way." I broke the silence.

Caspian shrugged. "Well, you _are_ kind of important..." He muttered.

"What was that?" I asked mockingly, a smile widening on my face.

Caspian rubbed the back of his neck. "Nothing!" He replied.

I gave him a knowing look and bit my lip to try and stop my smile.

We settled into another comfortable silence. I noticed we were still holding hands, so I played with his hand.

We sat in the silence for quite awhile before I plucked enough courage to speak.

"Hey, Cas?" I asked.

Caspian turned his chocolate eyes back to me. My stomach fluttered yet again.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"You're sort of important to me too." I stated.

He stared back at me. I looked to the side awkwardly and bit my lip.

Caspian smiled shortly and laced his fingers through mine. The butterflies raged, and I idly wondered what kind of party they were having in my stomach.

-x-

Well...nevermind planning, I couldn't spit this chapter out for the life of me after I planned it.

Sorry it took so long, I will try and plan the next five chapters which WILL be spent training properly.

Review/comment, please? :)


	5. Firework

As I awoke the next morning, I noticed the dull ache in the back of my head. Remind me not to sleep on it again, I've got enough brain damage as it is.

I looked around me, all the god-awful curtains had been pulled back at some point and the sheer number of wards and trainees in medical beds surprised me. I guess the age-old saying is true: the only thing more dangerous than a professional is an amateur.

Sunlight filtered in through the windows and warmed my skin. The ache at the back of my head got worse as I stared into the sunbeams shining through. I was surprised at how bad my head hurt, I thought I had gotten so used to head pain that I would hardly feel it. All I seem to do in this magical loony bin anyways is acquire head injuries and annoying friends who really need to live a little and stop hitting me-_wait_ _a minute_, the warm _sunlight?_

GOD DAMMIT, I'M LATE FOR THE FIRST DAY OF TRAINING!

I sat up quickly, the throbbing in my head forgotten, and the blood rushed through the lower half of my body, screwing up my balance and making me tip over onto the end of my bed like one of those fainting goats(_wicked_ fun to chase). I was a tad humiliated, but a quick look over at the other beds nearby made me feel better, nobody was awake to laugh at me.

I mentally promised the poor goats I'd stop chasing them. For a while.

I sat up(more slowly this time) and grabbed the pile of freshly washed garments on the table beside me. I shook them out, a plain blue tunic and dark brown breeches, along with undergarments of course but I find it embarrassing to even think about them so I'm most definitely not describing them.

Oooh, I thought, Trevor would be dying to push all the sleeping people off of their beds or dip their hands in warm water or something.

Trevor! A wave of guilt washed over me.

I hadn't even _bothered_ thinking about getting back, or even thinking about what might've happened to Trev, or looking for him! Imagine if he's found this country somehow-what if he's alone and lost? Or, even worse things I can think, what if he's with savages? Or...or...or _cannibals?_ Something beastly could've happened to Trevor and it would be my entire fault.

I looked back up and the sunlight warmed my arm again-_CRAP_ I don't have time to feel guilty!

I turned back to the modesty curtains and tried to pull one side out. It wouldn't budge. I pulled harder on it, the curtain ripped all up the ugly pastel yellow side. I felt more panicked now-great, I'm never going to get to training _and_ I've broken somebody's curtains. Who's curtains are these anyways?

I looked around quickly. Everybody was sleeping. Would they wake up? Could I just change here and get away with it?

Well, I thought, since they never woke when I ripped the curtain, probably not.

Was it worth it? I looked around again. Snores echoed through the vast hall. I shrugged. Nobody has to know.

-x-

General Montoya paced slowly in front of me. I tried my very best not to look like a kicked puppy.

"So you're telling _me_-" He cut into my thoughts, "That you're a half-hour late because nobody woke you up?"

He stopped directly in front of me and bore holes into my eyes with his own.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Erm...yes...I didn't...erm...yes."

He stared for another long second before barking out a short laugh. "You're naive, but I still like you. Lucky for you most of our trainees are still in the hospital ward, we haven't started yet."

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and looked back to Cas. He was stifling a laugh. Stupid pretty-boy.

"BACK IN LINE, WORMS!" That was his pet name for us.

I scrambled beside Cas, making sure to step on his foot.

He flinched. I laughed. In my head.

General Montoya started pacing in front of the _3...4...5…_seven pairs of trainees ready to learn.

"Today, we learn what you're good at!" He yelled.

I groaned in my head. This is gonna be wicked boring.

Suddenly, General Montoya was all up in my face. "Got something to say, McKinley?" He asked threateningly.

I looked to Cas for help. He stood straight as a pin, facing forward and watching out of the corner of his eye, looking terrified. The keener.

"No….?" I replied.

General Montoya snorted and walked back towards the front. I hope we get to try offensive manoeuvres today. I wanted to bruise Cas.

"First, we try to use arrows. Then, we try to learn defense." Montoya yelled from the front once more. "GET TO IT!"

Muted shrieks of terror came from all over before everyone kicked into high-gear and raced to the target area. I laughed. Cas looked a little wary to walk by my side.

-x-

"Char I don't think that's how you hold it!" Cas looked terrified, I probably looked somewhere in between sadistic and pleased.

I waved the crossbow in my hands around just to freak him out a little more.

"No?" I exclaimed dramatically, "How _do_ you hold it?"

Cas dragged his hand haphazardly through his long hair before grabbing my arm midair.

"Like _this._" He stated, lifting the crossbow from my hands with a gentle grace.

Cas turned the crossbow around and shifted his hands under it's base, one hovering near the launching function button, the other fitting past the end of the taut string towards the back, drawing it close to his chest with a well-formed ease that could only come from practice. I (embarrassingly) stared in awe.

"Oh." I replied. My stupid brain(WHAT WAS IT EVEN THERE FOR?) couldn't come up with much beyond that which wouldn't be useless blabber or drooling.

Cas smirked at me-the bastard-and handed the crossbow back gingerly.

"Now you try it." He replied simply. These things were god-damned _heavy!_

I nodded, my mouth dry, and swallowed the lump in my throat.

I slid my hand up the main support thing and settled my hand under the part the arrow shot out of on the launch function, probably nowhere near as graceful looking as Cas, and held my other hand just past the taut strings at the back of it, bringing it closer to me and partially resting the weight on my hip.

Cas smiled at me, amused. "Don't rest it on your hip, though; hold it up with your hands." He told me. Damn him and his nice eyes.

I groaned and lifted the heavy crossbow, aiming it into the distance at the target Cas and I were stationed at.

"Line the center of the target up with the end of the crossbow-" Cas explained, gingerly taking the crossbow back from my inexperienced and weak arms.

He raised the weapon to the level of his eyes and focused in on the target, eyes narrowing and muscle-y arms flexing. I heard a click and a thump, and the arrow had embedded into the circle surrounding the center by the time I looked.

"Holy shit!" Words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. "That was fast!"

Cas laughed one disbelieving laugh at me, lowering the deadly (as I've just realized) weapon.

"SORRY!" I immediately yelled, hiding under my hands. My cheeks felt hot, and I knew I was blushing. Crap.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" He teased.

"I don't...erm...remember my mother…" I replied quietly, taking advantage of Cas' strong sense of empathy. I'm a bad person. I know.

Cas was the embarrassed one this time, he rubbed the back of his neck and shoved the crossbow at me. "Here…uh, try it yourself, Charlotte."

I snickered. "Sucker." I grabbed the crossbow from him and fixed my form, holding it the 'proper' way.

I lifted the heavy weapon and held it up to my eye level, pointing myself at the center of the target. I held my finger over the button, glancing back at Cas. He was staring at me.

"What?" I asked. "How's my form?"

Cas's head snapped back up at me, a slight blush creeping across his tanned cheeks. He glanced over me.

"S'fine." He mumbled.

I shrugged and held the crossbow back up to my eyes.

"Now or never!" I exclaimed.

Everything after that happened in one big blur, Cas yelled out "CHAR WAIT-", I pushed the button, and I heard shrieks of terror(but I really didn't think much of that part, these imbeciles shriek in terror at everything. OOH A CHICKEN! I'M SO SCARED!).

The crossbow immediately kicked back with a strong force, hitting me in the shoulder. I dropped it. Oops.

It went quiet after. I turned around to look at Cas, he was facing our left, a look of horror on his face.

I turned to see the scene of the crime. It wasn't as bad as I imagined. The arrow was in the exact center of the target to our left(YEAHHH), though it probably would have been in some little girl's neck had she not seen what was happening and dove. Said little girl was hyperventilating on the ground while people patted her on the back and gave me dirty looks.

"MCKINLEY!" Montoya yelled from somewhere behind me. I winced. I smiled a cheesy, guilty smile and turned back to face Cas.

He had a look of disbelief on his pretty, pretty face.

"Maybe we should try something _else_…" He said slowly, looking at me with a bit of apprehension.

-x-

"Worms! What do you do if someone were to attack?" General Montoya was pacing again(like most other war generals in books I've read) in front of us.

I was looking at the pretty blue sky, Cas was staring at the General because he's a keener.

"Like _this!_" I heard and suddenly Montoya was racing at me, sword drawn. Except, _this_ was a REAL sword.

I froze on the spot.

_Oh God._

_I'm dead._

Time seemed to slow down, and I vaguely recalled him telling us how to block. I couldn't entirely remember, so I looked at it from a mathematical view and decided to bring my sword up horizontally and hoped it was somewhat right.

I looked up-this all happened in about 3 seconds, by the way-and he was suddenly in my face, about to kill me. My arms took over control and rose up quicker than I'd ever used them to stop the sword, my wooden sword hit it on a weird angle, but I stopped it. I struggled to hold on to it as General Montoya's pure strength reverberated down into my arms.

It was quiet, everybody was in shock. I stopped being completely freaked out, and looked at General Montoya's face, noticing his sword was about a centimeter away from my right pinky finger.

He looked smug.

"Pay attention, McKinley." He stated gruffly. "Don't want a repeat of the arrow incident."

Anything he says from now on, I decided, goes.

"Bad form." He looked me over. "You need strength training badly. You need to be more flexible. Everything needs to be worked on. But, good instincts."

He turned and sheathed his sword, walking back to his spot facing all the trainees.

Was that a compliment? Or an insult? Oh well, I'll take it as a compliment! La la laaa-

"You'll all need those if you want to _survive_."

-x-

I lowered myself onto my bed, groaning.

A slow ache crept up my arms and down my legs ever since we took a break for lunch during training. My stomach muscles were sore, and my neck muscles even hurt. HOW DID I WORK MY NECK MUSCLES?

I slid a boot off and my foot ached. I groaned again.

I lay back down on my bed, decided to give my foot a minute before I slid the other one off. I yawned, staring up at the ceiling, eyes becoming heavy.

A loud noise echoed through my room.

Argh, _what_ was that?

I stared at the ceiling some more, willing myself to sit up.

Curiosity took over laziness. I lifted my head and made a weird face(I could feel it), struggling with my tired stomach muscles. A stab of pain in my stomach rippled up into my chest. I fell back onto my bed.

Nope. Not getting up.

"Char! Honestly, _get up_." It was Glozelle. "What if I was here to murder you?"

I sighed.

"I guess I'd be dead, then." I replied.

Glozelle was suddenly beside my bed-when'd he get here? He grabbed my arm and lifted me with it until I was sitting up.

"How was training?" He asked.

I made a loud noise(indistinguishable) of distaste, "_That's_ why I'm not sleeping right now?" I yelled.

Glozelle smiled cheekily. "Sometimes you don't get a chance to sleep. Sometimes you've been chased for 2 days straight and the only chance you get to sleep could be another trap. Your ward can sleep all they want, but it's your duty to ensure they live, no matter what the cost."

"Ugh," I groaned, "Screw that, it's only been one day of training."

Glozelle nodded as if I'd said some highly intelligent words of wisdom.

I shuffled back on my bed, patting the spot beside me. Glozelle sat down.

"So, why'd you really come to see me?" I asked.

Glozelle gave me a sharp look. Well, it was more of an _'oh crap she knows' _look, but who's judging me? You better not be. I'm tired.

"Well?" I exclaimed. "Spit it out!"

Glozelle sighed and looked down.

Henrietta shuffled into the room at this exact moment and paused, setting her basket of medical supplies down on the desk beside the door.

"Let me look at your head!" She called out, turning to us.

Glozelle was frozen with a strange look on his face. "Henrietta." He stated, face softening.

Henrietta picked a pair of shearing scissors up from her basket and walked towards me.

"Hi..." She muttered shyly, motioning for me to turn around.

I gathered my legs up onto the bed and spun myself around on my butt, plotting against the two people keeping me from precious sleep.

I turned my head slightly and peered at Glozelle out of the corner of my eye-he was blushing and staring at Henrietta. Said she-beast hit me on the side of the head and forcibly turned it back to the wall my bed was up against. Bitch.

Some scuffling noises were all that was heard for the next minute. I sighed.

"Almost done, you restless child." Henrietta told me.

I quelled the urge to smack her.

A snipping noise came from behind me and Henrietta patted my head harshly again.

"All done, princess." She muttered sarcastically.

I muttered obscenities darkly.

I turned myself back around, glancing at Glozelle. His head was down, staring at his feet.

Henrietta was back at the door, basket in hand.

"Good night!" She called out, about to leave. I sucked air back into my chest.

"HENRIETTA'S IN LOVE WITH GLOZELLE!" I yelled out. Heh heh.

Henrietta's face went white and Glozelle choked on…air.

Success!

Or not, Henrietta lobbed a roll of medical tape at my head.

"Ahhhhh! I'm being attacked-AHHHH SAVE ME!" I yelled out, as she continuously launched stuff from her basket at me, I ducked and jumped off my bed, diving under the desk.

Hey that was impressive. The desk was across the room. Yeah. I'm pretty good.

The things stopped flying and angry stomps echoed down the hallway, after the door was slammed, of course.

I peeked out from under the desk. Glozelle was still on my bed. Staring. In shock.

Then he did the oddest thing. He started cracking up.

I did too, I climbed out from under the desk, sliding one of the chairs out and slouching into it. Glozelle got up and opened the door, sliding the other chair out from the desk and sitting in it.

"She was pretty angry." Glozelle stated with a chuckle.

"Anger is a passionate emotion!" I exclaimed. Glozelle went a little more red. I grinned evilly.

Glozelle shook his head, hand rubbing the back of his neck like it was sore, and sighed.

He turned back to me. "Char, do you really want to know why I came here?" He asked.

I looked back at him, "Of course, why wouldn't I?" I gave him and odd look.

Glozelle sighed again, looking out the window above my bed.

We sat there in comfortable silence for a bit before he spoke.

"I don't have a family," He muttered, "Not anymore."

My head shot up to look at him. He was looking at the desk.

"Me neither." I told him.

Glozelle's head shot up this time, eyes full of sorrow.

"That's the thing." He replied.

Glozelle ran his left hand over his eyes and settled it under his chin, propping his arm on the desk and staring at me.

"We don't have any family." He stated. "We _are_ each other's family here."

I looked back at him. Tears were burning behind my eyes. Glozelle looked more fierce and real than I'd ever seen him.

"We're all each other _has_-" He exclaimed.

"Stop, I'm going to cry." I interrupted.

Glozelle's eyes finally lightened from the steely look they'd had before.

"The only girl in Narnia who doesn't like to cry." He muttered, amusement colouring his thick voice.

I scoffed. "All the girls _do_ in Narnia is cry or shriek in terror." I replied.

Glozelle smiled at me. He glanced over at my haphazard bed.

"You should get to bed." He stated.

I looked back at my bed. Oh. Forgot about that.

I smiled. "Yes. Bed. Mmmm. Bed." I slid my other boot off and threw it at the boot already sitting at the edge of the bed. It hit the wall and landed a meter away.

We both cringed at my aim.

"You need to work on that." Glozelle muttered, standing and heading to the door.

I scowled at him. "I'll get better!" I exclaimed.

Glozelle snorted and walked away, closing the door behind him.

That came ridiculously close to being a feel-good moment, I thought as I lifted my shirt off and threw it at the laundry basket beside my dresser. I opened the bottom drawer and pulled a nightgown out, throwing it on before I wrestled out of my breeches and tossed them in the general laundry basket direction.

I sighed and hopped into my bed, minding my sore body as I nestled into the covers and kicked the stuff Henrietta threw on it off.

_Dangerously _close.

-x-

THIS WAS 10 PAGES LONG IN MICROSOFT WORD

APPRECIATE IT

tired rant over

this is what happens when you meticulously plan the story out chapter by chapter-then hit writer's block-then stay up too late.

Yaaaaaaaaay.


	6. No Such Thing

I snapped the band of horse hair back from the frame of my bow, listening for any buzzing in the _twang_ it made.

"It's….good?" I guessed.

Montoya grinned, "It is good, but I know you just guessed." He told me.

I scoffed. "At least I can aim now."

Montoya just nodded in the direction of the target ahead of me. "Show me what you got." He muttered.

I felt determination etch into my face as I scowled at his condescending attitude and strung my arrow. I'll show him. I'm not nearly as uncoordinated as the first day they gave me this bow.

I remember it clearly, because the embarrassment hasn't nearly left me yet.

-x-

"_McKinley!" Montoya yelled out._

_I disarmed Cas, flicking his fake sword over his shoulder before stabbing his leg once more for good measure and wandering towards Montoya._

_Cas was protesting the whole time, of course, but I chose to ignore it._

"_What?" I called out, shoving my wooden sword into its holder- a block of wood with slots in it for all our swords._

"_We want to try something with you," Montoya replied, "Since you're kind of special."_

_I grimaced and stuck my hand on my hip, "Yeah, special." I replied._

_Montoya grinned and turned away from me, walking towards a strange looking old man. He was stout and his clothing was odd and elaborate._

"_This," Montoya gestured to him, "Is Doctor Cornelius." _

_Said man smiled at me, his long, silvery beard swaying with the slight inclination of his head. I smiled back briefly before turning back to Montoya with a glare._

"_And why exactly am I meeting a __doctor__?" I asked him._

_Montoya just kept a stupid smile on his face. I almost growled at him, but I stopped myself. Sometimes I do act normal, alright?_

_Doctor Cornelius, aware of the awkwardness of our situation, stepped in and offered his hand to me._

"_I am not here to use my medicinal knowledge, Miss McKinley, although I'm sure were the situation like so, you would certainly be most healthy in all estates." He stated diplomatically as I shook his hand and probably looked stupid._

"_Oh." I answered, unable to reply intelligently._

_Monotya snorted and made that idiotic clicking noise with his tongue that he does when he's impatient._

"_Well, McKinley, the Doctor here is the only Telmarine who knows how to operate a bow and arrow, since you seem to have problems operating a crossbow, we're trying you on a bow instead. Got it?" Montoya stated, giving me a stern look._

_I nodded and watched as he gave a satisfied nod and started yelling for the other trainees to start their crossbow practice, walking towards them._

_The Doc cleared his throat as he turned to a deep ochre bow hanging behind him._

"_This bow was made especially for females," he held it out to me and gestured to the curves in it's structure, "Can you tell me why I know this?"_

_I stared at it. "It's smaller than most bows?" I guessed._

_Cornelius nodded, "And lighter. It's built aerodynamically, and for longer distances."_

_He handed the bow to me and turned back to the equipment, pulling a matching quiver from the wall the bow had originally hung on._

"_It's also built for adolescent females, such as yourself Miss McKinley." He told me with a smile, gesturing to the bow and myself._

_I glanced back down at the bow in my hands, piecing together what he meant._

"_No, no, NO, this is too pretty and dangerous for me." I replied._

_Cornelius chuckled, "You must learn to use a bow for long distance fighting, or you will be defenseless in such a case." He retorted._

_I scowled because I knew he was right._

"_How do you use this thing." I grumbled, holding the bow up awkwardly._

_Cornelius smiled and held his arms up like he was holding a bow, stretching his left arm forward strongly and bending his right while aligning his feet under his hipbones._

_I stretched my arms to mock him, but when I tried to pull the twine back with my other arm, it went a pathetic couple of centimeters before I couldn't move it anymore. My arm wobbled under the strain._

"_You just have to practice a little to get it." He told me gently, pulling an arrow from the quiver he set down earlier._

"_Try it. You just place it between your index and middle fingers, and use them to pull the twine back from the frame."_

_I took the arrow from his outstretched hand, and placed it in my hand experimentally as he described._

"_Yes," He said encouragingly, "try it!"_

_I pulled the band of twine back as hard as I could, "Where am I shooting?" I asked, voice shaky. The Doc gestured to a target on a tree nearby. I turned to it._

"_To aim, align the arrowhead with your target." He told me._

_I held the bow closer to my face, concentrating on the center of the target._

_I took a deep breath and lined up the arrowhead. I pulled back a little harder, I could feel my face scrunching up as I concentrated._

_The twine suddenly snapped, slicing the side of my collarbone and sending the arrow shooting out at a ferocious speed….right into General Monotya's ankle._

-x-

I stepped into position, right foot forward, knees locked and shoulders flexed. I strung my arrow and pulled the horse-hair(the twine clearly wouldn't hold…) back to _almost_ reach my face on its own.

I aligned my sight and the arrowhead out of the corner of my eye, snapping the bow to let the arrow fly into the second ring from the center.

"HAH!" I cried out, victory!

Montoya raised an eyebrow before turning on away to glance at the rest of his 'worms' (as he oh-so-affectionately calls us) before muttering "Meh."

I visibly cringed.

He turned back to look at me, eyes assessing, "You've still come a long way, McKinley. Keep working."

I nodded, "Yes sir."

Montoya turned back to the rest of the trainees and called out "Lunch break!" before walking off to where ever he goes when he isn't ordering us around.

-x-

"Char!" Cas called out.

I turned away from the sandwich I'd been considering to come very close to Caspian's face and as cheesy as it sounds, got lost in his soulful brown eyes.

I stared for a good five seconds before getting a small bit of composure and averting my eyes, muttering "Whaddya want…" while my cheeks heated.

Cas smiled and reached around me, leaving a warm trail where his arm brushed mine and making my heartbeat stutter.

"Guess what?" He asked, taking a bite out of the muffin he'd grabbed from the lunch bar.

I turned back to the lunch bar and took the sandwich, walking past Cas to find a table which didn't have any of the annoying shrieky girls sitting at it.

As I sat down, Cas jumped (literally, jumped) into the chair beside me, bouncing his legs and shaking the entire table.

I sighed, "What is it?" I asked.

Caspian broke into an adorable grin and I vaguely remembered the first time I'd been puppy dog eyes'd by him. Little did I know…

"We get special training after lunch break!" He exclaimed, nearly knocking the table over in excitement.

"….We have to get _special_ training? Why?" I asked.

Cas smiled even wider, shaking me by the shoulders, "Because we're _advanced_!" He retorted gleefully.

"Cas, I'm pretty sure '_special'_ just means '_slow_'." I replied, unwrapping my sandwich.

Cas reached in front of me and grabbed half my sandwich-thanks for asking bub- "No! We're actually advanced with swords and General Montoya _himself_ is gonna teach us a trick or two that are-"

"You need to calm down!" I interrupted.

Cas stopped demolishing half of my sandwich and closed his mouth to chew and swallow, "I'm just happy, you know? Maybe I won't be such a horrific King after all." He replied.

You know those simple sentences random people say every once in a while that change how you see something completely? This was one of them for me. That's right, he's the crown prince. He's gonna be King someday. Wow.

"Char?" Cas waved a tan hand in front of my face, "You okay?"

"Mhm," I replied, "I'm just having an epiphany."

Caspian gave me a funny look before digging into the other half of my sandwich and suddenly realizing that it wasn't his.

"Oh…" Cas muttered, swallowing the chunk of sandwich in his mouth.

I laughed a little, to be honest.

Okay, I laughed a lot. His face was priceless.

"I'll get you another one…" He stated, wandering towards the food bar.

-x-

Side step, dive, duck and roll. These were the ways we learned to avoid getting an arrow in the butt. What Montoya was telling us now?

Complete. Rubbish.

"I'm completely serious." He replied patiently.

I felt my eyes narrow and mouth drop open in a sarcastic expression.

Caspian's eyes flickered back and forth between Montoya and me. He stepped forward, clearly the peace-keeper in said situation.

"What do you mean, use your sword?" He asked.

Montoya smirked, unsheathing his pride-and-joy fancy sword and gesturing to a weird slingshot-like machine.

"I'll show you!" He replied simply.

Cas and I stepped back out of the way of this machine as Montoya turned it on.

"This device will shoot arrows that won't hurt, and stick to you." He explained.

Montoya leaned forward, arms up in a defensive position.

An arrow shot out at break-neck speed, and Montoya spun his sword in front of him with a skilled flick of his wrist.

He turned back to us, sword held up with an arrow stuck to the centre by a suction cup tip.

"WHAT!" Caspian exclaimed, an excited grin decorating his angular face.

I just stared in complete shock.

"You use the broad part as a shield." Montoya replied simply, "Now you try!"

Caspian ran to Montoya's spot, launching himself over a log.

"FIRST GO!" He yelled.

I just walked to the log Cas just vaulted and sat down on it. Montoya took a seat beside me and watched the hyperactive chipmunk bounce around until a couple arrows bruised his ego. He nudged me after a while.

"You try now." He muttered.

I grimaced and stood, gesturing to Cas to switch.

He walked by, an odour of sweat permeating the air around him. I made a face.

"It's not as easy as it looks." He told me ominously.

I sighed and pulled my sword out.

"I just swing it clockwise?" I asked Montoya. He nodded. Helpful.

I walked to the machine, turning to face it, heart beat picking up in anticipation.

It shuddered before shooting an arrow out at me. I swung my sword around, but knew I failed to hit it as the arrow hit my neck with a bruising impact.

I made a noise as it hit me, staggering back a step.

"I thought these didn't hurt!" I exclaimed, ripping the suction cup arrow off me.

Montoya just grinned while Cas rubbed his obviously sore shoulder.

I sighed and turned back to the machine.

"You hit it." Montoya called out.

I whipped my head back to face him. "_What?_" I exclaimed.

He nodded at the arrow by my feet, "Should've hit your face, your got it on the edge of your sword and changed the path instead of blocking the attack." He replied.

I shrugged, nearly falling over as another arrow impacted, hitting me in the hip this time.

Montoya choked back a laugh as I scowled at him.

"What am I doing wrong?" I asked, giving him a dirty look.

I turned back to the machine, readying myself.

"You're forgetting to align your feet." He replied.

I looked down, and sure enough, they were about two feet apart instead of under my hips.

Another arrow hit me (ribs this time) and Montoya laughed again. This is going to be a long day.

-x-

I sank into my downy bed with a sigh of pure joy before my lovely moment of solitude was over. Somebody whispered my name from my door.

"Charlotte!" It was probably Glozelle.

I ignored him.

"I swear to God…" He muttered, sneaking past my door.

"What?" I replied, already cross with him.

He stooped near the doorway, motioning to follow.

I sighed and rose from my bed, stomping over to my shoes.

Glozelle grabbed my ankle and muttered "Be silent."

I rolled my eyes but obliged, dropping to his level and resting on my ankles.

"You'll thank me later." He replied, a mischievous grin on his face.

We crept through the halls through back entrances and secluded sections until we somehow came to the court stables.

"Unlatch the bolts on the chicken gates!" Glozelle hissed, creeping to the cage of said birds.

I reached for them before hesitating, "Won't the chickens get loose?" I asked.

Glozelle shrugged, "They may." He replied.

Now already thoroughly amused, I reached for the bolt and unlatched it as Glozelle somersaulted to the other side of the gate and did the same.

"Sopespian may also be nearby and secretly deathly afraid of chickens…" He muttered.

I almost died, swinging the door silently and holding a hand over my mouth to keep from bursting into belly-aching laughter.

The chickens swarmed out, heading straight out the barn doors. Shrieks of terror followed immediately after.

Glozelle and I high-fived over the chicken gate while sneaking back towards the back door we came in.

-x-

This took forever...sorry?

I'm sick so I had time haha :)

Review please! Feedback or criticism would be lovely :)

Happy Easter to you all as well!


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